


I'll Always Be In Your Corner

by Grayson1996



Series: Dick & Dami Week 2021 [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson is a Better Parent Than Bruce Wayne, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29913861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grayson1996/pseuds/Grayson1996
Summary: Dick Grayson will stand up for Damian to anyone, even his Father. A quiet moment between the two after Damian is kicked out of the Manor. Regardless of his relationship with his Father, Damian knows he will always have Grayson in his corner and somehow that's all that matters. DickandDamiWeek2021: "Did you really mean that?"
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Series: Dick & Dami Week 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2199732
Comments: 4
Kudos: 163
Collections: DickAndDamiWeek2021





	I'll Always Be In Your Corner

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Dick and Dami Week 2021! This and other fics from this week will be posted on my tumblr 'grayson1996'.

**Prompts:**

~~Just~~ _~~Sibling Things~~ \- ~~English as a Second Language~~ \- **"Did you really mean that?"** _

Grayson looked old.

The thought shocked him as never, not in the four years that he had known the man, had Damian thought him ‘old’. Jovial, enthusiastic, energetic, annoyingly affectionate. But never old. Not until this moment.

His brother sat at the kitchen table, his body void of any of its usual quirks and flicks. His body’s constant movement was stilled for once, and in its place was exhaustion. Damian could see the first signs of graying hair peppering the otherwise dark mass of ebony that sat on top of his brother’s head. And frameless reading glasses were perched at the edge of his nose as he peered down at the papers in front of him. Damian didn’t know when Grayson had started wearing glasses and that saddened him.

The first year and a half he had known his brother, when his Father had still been trapped in the team stream, Damian had learned everything there was to know about Richard John Grayson. The two had spent nearly every waking moment together after all. But then his Father returned, and he had died, and _Richard_ had died, and for nearly two years the two had been apart. Even when Richard had returned from his stint at Spyral Damian barely saw him. The man had been busy putting his life together and Damian lived at the Manor, and their paths rarely crossed. 

When they did it was incredible.

Damian hadn’t realized how much he had missed his brother, missed his love, until suddenly it was gone. Grayson had changed in his time away. He was quieter, he was always thinking, and he didn’t laugh as much as he once had. He seemed tired. Drake let slip once during patrol that Grayson had taken his death hard. It hurt to think that he may have played a role in subduing Grayson’s joy. 

Despite the changes, some things were the same, however. The man’s hugs were just as tight and warm as they’d always been. He still beamed whenever he saw Damian. Still ruffled Damian’s hair, and still laughed when Damian glared at him for doing so, now out of habit than actual annoyance. He still praised Damian, still looked at him in pride whenever he had done something well. 

Still loved him, which was more than Damian could say for his Father.

Damian shook his head, clearing his mind from that thought, and returned his gaze to his brother. The man took a deep sigh and set down the paper he was holding, taking off his glasses he set them on the table before rubbing at the bridge of his nose. Without opening his eyes he spoke.

“Are you going to come in, or were you planning to stay in the hallway all night?” Damian rolled his eyes, unsurprised that his brother had noticed him lurking. Stepping around the doorframe he entered the room and sat in the seat across from Grayson. At 14 he had gone through one or two growth spurts that left him feeling gangly as opposed to graceful. His knee knocked into the table leg when he sat, and with a wince, he pulled it under him so that he was sitting half crisscrossed. 

“I did not want to bother you, you seemed busy.” Dick opened his eyes with a small smile, and Damian could see the exhaustion even clearer. It had been a long couple of days.

“Never too busy for you kid.” The words were genuine, and despite having expected that from Grayson he felt his face warm up at the obvious affection. Before this week it had been nearly a month since the two had last hung out and Damian had missed his warmth. The Manor was exceedingly cold, growing downright frigid since his return to the land of the living. “You alright?” 

“I am fine.” The look on Dick’s face told Damian he didn’t believe him. “I am.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“I know.”

“It’s been a pretty crazy week huh?” Damian shrugged, the oddly casual gesture cementing that something was off with him. Dick looked at him, not with pity but in understanding, as though he knew how Damian felt. “Do you want to talk about it?” _Do I want to talk about my Father kicking me out and firing me from being Robin? Do I want to talk about the fact that I’ve disappointed yet another parent? Do I want to talk about the fact that I can’t seem to do anything right?_

“Not particularly.” Grayson nodded and looked away for a moment, thinking.

“You know… When he kicked me out I was so angry at him. Furious. For giving up on me, for letting me down… I just, I guess I just want you to know that I understand what you’re going through Dami. And you don’t have to talk about it, but you can if you’d like.” Damian looked at his brother in surprise. He had learned about his Father kicking out Grayson years ago, but he also knew that his brother didn’t like to talk about it. 

“You were angry with him?” Dick nodded again.

“I didn’t talk to him for years, not until after he adopted Jason. Even then we only ever talked about Jason or Batman things. He took away my agency, my name, my family. He left me with nothing. He never even apologized, I think he just expected me to get over it, and by the time Tim came along it had been nearly four years so I just… let it go.” Damian shook his head.

“It is hard to imagine you carrying a grudge.” Grayson laughed lightly at that, leaving Damian to wonder what he said that was funny?

“You’d be surprised Dami, my temper is kind of infamous. I used to let it get the best of me, but it’s calmed over the years.” That both surprised him and didn’t. Dick Grayson should be angers antagonist, the two should not mix. But then Damian remembered the look on his brother’s face when he had arrived at the Manor earlier that week. 

Damian had been sitting in the living room, two bags next to him stuffed with clothes and small trinkets he had collected. Pennyworth had gone into his Fathers study when he heard what he had done. Leaving the boy alone with his thoughts. He had called Grayson nearly a half an hour ago, right around the time the last gymnastics class his brother taught let out. The man had picked up instantly and once Damian had explained what had happened he had responded with a clipped ‘I’ll be right there’. And so Damian sat, waiting, knowing in his mind that things would be all right when Grayson arrived. 

He hadn’t heard the car pull up to the manor, hadn’t heard the man walk up the steps or open the door. But he did hear a set of frantic feet make its way over to the room he was sitting in. Then his brother appeared in the doorframe, face haggard and burning with a rage Damian had never seen on him before. His brothers’ lips were pursed in a tight line, his shoulders were tense, and his eyes were glinting dangerously. And for a moment Damian felt worried that the anger was directed towards him. That fear was dashed however the moment Graysons saw him and it was like a flip was switched. And all Damian could see was concern and love. Grayson rushed over and pulled him into his arms, and for once Damian hugged back, body shaking slightly in adrenaline and sorrow.

“I’ve got you Dami, it’s going to be okay.” A small whimper escaped his lips and Damian felt Grayson’s grip tighten for a moment before his brother pulled back. “You’re coming back home with me okay? Everything is going to be alright.” The words were said with such conviction that Damian felt himself almost agreeing before he stopped himself.

“You do not even know what happened. I made a mistake and Father-” Damian cut himself off as the look of anger returned to Grayson’s face. But his brother’s hold on him did not change. 

“Bruce is wrong Damian. Nothing you did excuses his behavior. This is not your fault, this is on Bruce. We’ll go home and we can talk about it if you want, but if you don’t want to tell me I don’t need to know, Okay?” A wave of fondness washed over him at his brother’s words, and he felt himself nod in agreement. Grayson gave him a small nod and gestured to his bags. “My cars out front, we can get the rest of your stuff later. Why don’t you take this out there and I’ll be out in a few minutes?” Damian frowned but even so he followed Grayson out into the hall.

“What are you going to do?” Dick was moving towards the stairs and though Damian could no longer see his face, the tension in his shoulders returned.

“I need to talk with your Father.”

Damian knew he should go out to the car as Grayson instructed, knew he shouldn’t sneak upstairs and eavesdrop outside of his Fathers study door. But, as it often does, curiosity won out and so he waited until he heard the door upstairs open and close before dropping his bags and heading up as well. When he reached the landing it was strangely quiet, and so he moved as silently as he could to the doorway and placed his ear upon the frame. He heard a quiet reverberating mumble come from his Father before Grayson’s voice came through.

**_“What the hell is wrong with you?”_ **The venom in his brother’s voice was startling and took Damian by surprise.

_“What are you doing here?”_

**_“Why do you think I’m here Bruce? What reason could I possibly have for coming here today?”_ **

_“This doesn’t concern you.”_

**_“Are you fucking kidding me? That’s all you can say? Of course, this concerns me. You kicked him out who the hell did you think he was going to call?”_ **

_“Stay out of this Richard.”_

**_“What did you think was going to happen Bruce? You’d kick him out and he’d just disappear from your life? It’s not like with me Bruce, he’s your son.”_ **

_“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know what he did.”_

**_“He’s a child! Children make mistakes Bruce, that doesn’t mean you can just get rid of them when you don’t want to deal with them anymore.”_ **

_“He endangered a life, he was reckless, he doesn’t listen. I never asked to raise him.”_

**_“And you think he asked for this? He’s your responsibility-”_ **

_“I CAN’T DO IT DICK. I don’t understand him, I don’t get him. We both hate each other. I can’t do this with him!”_

**_“Yes you can, you just don’t want to!”_ **

_“You don’t understand.”_

**_“Your right I don’t. Because the way I see it, you were given a pretty great kid and your fucking it up. I would be proud to have Damian as my son. I would be shouting it from the fucking rooftops. And you just see him as a burden, that’s all you’ve ever seen him as. And I kept waiting for you to come around. I kept waiting for you to get your shit together but you never do.”_ **

_“I’m not perfect Dick.”_

**_“He doesn’t need ‘perfect’ Bruce, he needs a Father.”_** Damian held his breath as he waited for his Fathers response. Waited for an apology, an argument, anything. But it was just silent. A heavy sigh came from the other side of the door. **“You don’t try anymore Bruce, you don’t care enough to. And it was fine when it was just me but I can’t.... I’m taking Damian, permanently. I’ll send the paperwork to your office...we’re done Bruce.”** The door swung up and Damian quickly backed away. Grayson looked down at him in exasperation but not annoyance, looking behind his brother he could see his Father sitting at his desk, a pinched look on his face. Pennyworth stood to the side, staring at Grayson in sadness. But Grayson just placed a hand on his shoulder and led him away. Down the hall and to the car.

A soft knock filled the air and blinking away the memory Damian looked up at Grayson. The man was leaning across the kitchen table, a look of concern on his face. 

“Where did you just go kid?” Damian opened his mouth, ready to dismiss his brothers’ concern, to change the subject. Instead, a question came out.

“Did you really mean that?” Grayson furrowed his eyebrow and tilted his head in question and Damian had to stifle a laugh. His brother always did look like a golden retriever when he did that. “Did you mean what you said to Father… that you would be proud to have me as your son?” A look of understanding appeared on Grayson’s face and Damian rushed to explain himself. “It is alright if you did not, I should not have eavesdropped. I just… You said you had been angry when Father kicked you out and… I’m not. I’m disappointed certainly, but to be honest I was more afraid that you would agree with him… That you wouldn’t-”

“Take your side?” Damian shut his mouth and nodded. A sad look was etched onto Grayson’s face and Damian remembered his earlier thought _‘you look old’_. Grayson got up from his chair and made his way over to Damian, kneeling in front of him. “Dami, I will always take your side.”

“Even if I don’t deserve it?” Grayson gave him a small smile.

“Everyone deserves love, everyone deserves to have someone in their corner. People make mistakes and that’s okay, that’s human. And if you do something wrong I’ll let you know, but nothing you do could ever make me love you less okay?” Damian felt heat rush to his face at the genuineness and he ducked his head in answer. Grayson gave a small chuckle and gently ruffled his hair. “And for what it’s worth I would be proud to have you as my son… I am proud of you Damian. And I know that maybe it’s not enough, I know I’m not Bruce, but I hope-” Dick cut himself off with a grunt as Damian flung his arms around him. 

“Thank you Grayson.... That is nice to hear.” Dicks arms wrapped around Damian’s and he pulled him into a tighter hug.

“I'll remind you anytime kid. I’ll say it as often as you need me to.”


End file.
